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MISSION
Environmental Advocates of New York is the state's government watchdog, holding lawmakers and agencies accountable for enacting and enforcing laws that protect our natural resources and safeguard public health. Working alone and in coalitions, Environmental Advocates has more than 7,000 individual and 130 organizational members. The organization is tax exempt under Section 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code is and is the New York affiliate of the National Wildlife Federation.

HISTORY

In 1969, a small group of environmentalists in New York State launched a plan that led to groundbreaking environmental protections. As one of the nation's first state policy-focused environmental councils, we established a prototype for environmental advocacy that has been replicated in state capitals across the nation.

The founders of the Environmental Planning Lobby—Environmental Advocates of New York's predecessor—turned the state into a national showcase for innovative environmental policy. And for nearly 40 years, we've played a role in virtually every major environmental accomplishment in New York State.

Our efforts were instrumental in passing some of our most significant environmental laws, including:

           the state's original bottle deposit law
           the nation's first acid rain law
           the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA)
           the Wild, Scenic & Recreational River Systems Program
           the Environmental Protection Fund
           the Hudson River Estuary Management Act
           the Lead Poisoning Prevention Act
           the Clean Indoor Air Act
           the low emission vehicle program
           the 1996 Clean/Water/Clean Air Bond Act

We have now entered a new era defined by sophisticated and well-financed opposition to environmental protection, sometimes embracing "green" rhetoric. In the face of these pressures, New York is in peril of losing important, hard-won gains. This is a critical time to reinvigorate the state's heritage of environmental leadership.

Environmental Advocates of New York also reaches beyond our borders to advance multi-state and national initiatives that have an impact on the state. We are the New York State affiliate of the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) and confer regularly with colleagues in across the country through our membership in the State Environmental Leadership Conference.

Click here to read our audited financial statements from 2005, 2006 and 2007.